How is your Local Authority delivering individual budgets? What are your experiences?

[Emmag777]

Hello,

I am a tutor working at TreeHouse School and a researcher (MSc in Educational Psychology) at the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE) at the Institute of Education, London. As you might be aware, the Government?s proposed Special Educational Needs (SEN) reforms include ensuring that parents will have access to an ?individual budget? for their children.

I would like to gain an understanding of how Local Authorities are currently delivering individual budgets to families of children with autism and, most importantly, what the families? experiences are thus far and what their hopes and fears are for the future.

I am therefore looking for parents or carers of young people between the age of 4 and 16 who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition, and who either (a) have received an individual budget, or (b) been offered but refused the individual budget scheme.

You do not need to have received an individual budget/direct payment to take part.

If you are interested, I will contact you to arrange an interview (less than 30 minutes) to talk about your perspective on the individual budget scheme. This can be face to face or on the phone.

Please get in touch with me at [email protected] if you would like to take part.

Thank you!

Emma Greene

Emma, Tutor - TreeHouse School